The document outlines a workshop focused on assessing students' use of Web 2.0 tools in higher education, including discussions on current practices and the development of a draft framework for effective assessment. It highlights principles of good practice and aims to assist universities in implementing these tools for evaluation through surveys, guidelines, and shared resources. The project seeks to address the implications of Web 2.0 technology on learning, teaching, and assessment in a collaborative environment.

1. Students’ use of Web 2.0 tools for assessment in higher
education: What constitutes good practice?
An ALTC Priority Project 2009-2011
HERDSA Conference Workshop
6 July 2010
Kathleen Gray & Celia Thompson

2. Workshop outline
1. The story behind this ALTC project
2. What’s YOUR interest in participating today?
3. What have we found out so far?
4. What things about Web 2.0 do we need to consider, to be
sure of “good practice” when we use it to assess students?
[over to YOU – over a cuppa]
5. Our draft framework & pilot testing
6. YOUR feedback & following up your interests

3. Project team
Jenny Waycott (project manager), Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health
Sciences, University of Melbourne.
Celia Thompson, School of Languages and Linguistics, University of Melbourne.
Margaret Hamilton, School of Computer Science and IT, RMIT University.
Joan Richardson, School of Business Information Technology, RMIT University.
Kathleen Gray (project leader), Faculty of Medicine / Department of Information
Systems, University of Melbourne.
Rosemary Clerehan, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash
University.
Judithe Sheard, Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University.

4. Project
background

5. This slide showed a spoof graph by dante88, retrieved from
http://graphjam.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/song-chart-
memes-research-paper.jpg
It was a pie chart entitled “Composition of my 25-page research
paper” showing that 50% of the content of the paper was
“Wikipedia information disguised as something else”

6. The future of scientific & scholarly communication
Chodorow • “the form and substance of scholarly
(2000, p.91) communications will change over time, so
that it will be difficult to trace the historical
flow of the work”
• “a free-flowing stream of scholarly discourse
will reduce the role of scholarly authority in
the progress of research”
Chodorow, S. (2000).
Scholarship & scholarly
communication in the • “the roles of individual authors will be
electronic age.
Educause Review, obscured in the electronic environment”
35(1), 86-92.
http://www.educause.e
du/ir/library/pdf/ERM0
01B.pdf

7. Why and how might we want our students to use the social
web to demonstrate their learning?
• This slide showed the image “Social media landscape”
published by Fred Cavazza, 9 June 2008, at FredCavazza.net.
Retrieved 20 June 2010 from
http://www.fredcavazza.net/2008/06/09/social-media-
landscape/

8. Implications for university learning, teaching & assessment?
O’Reilly & Battelle “One of the fundamental ideas underlying
(2009, p. 2) Web 2.0 [is] that successful network
applications are systems for harnessing
collective intelligence ... a large group of
O’Reilly, T., & Battelle, J. (2009). Web
Squared: Web 2.0 Five Years On.
people can create a collective work
Special Report for the Web 2.0
Summit, 20-22 October , San Francisco
whose value far exceeds that provided
CA.
http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/event/2
by any of the individual participants”
8/web2009_websquared-
whitepaper.pdf

9. Implications for university learning, teaching & assessment?
Kakutani “jump to the summary, the video clip, the
sound bite — never mind if context and nuance are lost
(2010, in the process; never mind if it’s our emotions, more
paras 13-14) than our sense of reason, that are engaged; never mind
if statements haven’t been properly vetted and
sourced”
“tweet and text one another during plays and
Kakutani, M. (2010, 17
movies, forming judgments before seeing the arc of the
March). Texts without entire work”
context. [Book review].
New York Times. “power-search for nuggets of information that
http://www.nytimes.co
m/2010/03/21/books/ might support their theses, saving them the time of
21mash.html?ref=book
s
wading through stacks of material that might prove
marginal but that might have also prompted them to
reconsider or refine their original thinking”

10. Use of Web 2.0 in university learning and teaching ...
lots to talk about
‘Web 2.0 and emerging technologies in online learning’
‘Analysis of 10 popular Web 2.0 tools used in higher education’
‘Facilitating new forms of discourse for learning and teaching:
harnessing the power of Web 2.0 practices ’
‘The changing space of research: Web 2.0 and the integration of
research and writing environments’
‘Can Web 2.0 and social software help transform how we
measure quality in teaching, learning, and research?’

11. What’s YOUR interest in participating today?
Please tell us
your name, organisational affiliation, roles / responsibilities, etc.
What are your thoughts at this stage about using Web 2.0
to assess student learning in higher education?
e.g.
“The assessment of student web 2.0 activities is
............. for university learning and teaching”.

12. Project aims
Assist universities when assessment uses Web 2.0 by:
1. Investigating current practitioners
> Survey and interview teaching academics (September 2009)
2. Identifying principles of good practice
> Advisory group and national roundtable (November 2009)
3. Iterating practicable guidelines
> Pilot testing in learning and teaching settings (February to June 2010)
4. Producing and sharing resources (July 2010 ff)

13. Current Web 2.0 assessment practices
Some preliminary findings
about how, where and why
60 Australian academics
are using Web 2.0
for assessment of student learning
that is more than just formative
(i.e. that earns marks in a subject)

14. Current Web 2.0 assessment practices: How
Type of Web 2.0 activity Number of responses
Wiki writing 32
Blogging/microblogging 31
Social networking 17
Audio/video podcasting 16
Virtual world activities 12
Social bookmarking 11

15. Current Web 2.0 assessment practices: How
Where students complete assignment Number of
responses
Off campus elsewhere (e.g., at home during
52
independent study time)
On campus but out of class 25
On campus in class 16
Off campus while undertaking fieldwork or
7
workplace learning

16. Current Web 2.0 assessment practices: How
How much the assignment is Number of responses
worth
01-10% 7
11-20% 11
21-30% 9
31-40% 6
41-50% 9
51-60% 2
61-70% 0
71-80% 3
81-90% 2
91-100% 4

17. Current Web 2.0 assessment practices: Where
Field of Study Number of respondents
16
Humanities / Society & Culture
15
Education
11
Information Technology
9
Medicine & Health
6
Management & Commerce
Other 3

18. Current Web 2.0 assessment practices: Where
Number of students Number of responses
enrolled in unit
Less than 50 21
50-100 10
101-200 9
More than 200 7

19. Current Web 2.0 assessment practices: Where
Level of study Number of responses
Bachelor or honours degree 35
Postgraduate coursework degree 16

20. Current Web 2.0 assessment practices: Why
Intended learning outcomes Number of
responses
Generic or graduate skills or attributes 35
Specialised knowledge or skills required in a
29
discipline or profession
Foundation knowledge or skills preparatory to
28
a discipline or profession

21. Current Web 2.0 assessment practices
Would you like to comment on
any of the other survey data
that are in your handout?

22. What would “good practice” look like ... ?
… when university students are asked to demonstrate
their learning using Web 2.0 activities / authoring tools /
attitudes to content production and consumption?
Some things to think about:
What Web 2.0 allows / enables
The assignment, from go to woe
Academic policies that pertain
Small groups + refreshments as required + report back

23. What would good practice look like? Affordances
Affordances checklist ... • Open publishing
• Communication styles and
What is an appropriate fit texts
between what assessment • Personal identity and
is trying to achieve and experience
what Web 2.0 can do? • Co-creation, collaboration,
crowdsourcing
• Content management

24. What would good practice look like? Affordances
Open publishing:
• Student work can be made easily
accessible to an audience of
peers for mutual benefit including
reviewing and rating.
• Review and assessment of
student work from outside the
university can be invited or
anticipated.

25. What would good practice look like? Affordances
Communication styles &
texts
• Web 2.0 assignments can involve
frequent short pieces of work
employing conversational language
and combining audio, video,
images & text.
• Feedback can be exchanged
rapidly, using rating or ranking
systems, informal rejoinders,
audio, video, images, icons.

26. What would good practice look like? Affordances
Personal identity &
experience:
• Students’ online identity can be
different from the student who is
recognisable in class.
• Students’ social or cultural
experiences of web authoring can
influence the work they produce
for assessment.
• Reflection and self-reflection
about the idea of identity are
prompted by the need to create
and express an online identity.

27. What would good practice look like? Affordances
Co-creation,
collaboration,
crowdsourcing:
• Group work can scale between a
small closed group and a large
free-to-join learning community
• Individual contributions to group
work can (sometimes) be
distinguished.
• Groups can work on large,
complex tasks.

28. What would good practice look like? Affordances
Content management
• Students’ assessable work may
consist of remixing web content
from diverse sources.
• Students’ assessable work may be
posted on several host sites.
Work posted on one site may be
syndicated by others and tracked
back.
• Students can control the content
they produce for assessment in
accordance with terms of service,
end user agreements or other
governance policies of host sites.

29. What would good practice look like? Processes
Processes checklist ...
How do teachers use Web 2.0 Design
to support student, self- and
organisational learning
Review Implement
throughout the cycle of
activities involved in the
assignment?
Feedback Mark

30. What staff have said about ...
Pick out a quote that interests you
from the checklist on “stages in the assessment cycle”:
Designing the assignment
Implementing the assignment
Marking the assignment
Giving results and feedback to students
Reviewing how well the assignment works

31. What would good practice look like? Policies
Policies checklist ... • disability
• access to IT services or
How can assessment using equipment
Web 2.0 be made safe and fair • appropriate conduct
for students and staff? • identity and privacy
• academic honesty and
integrity
• special consideration
• moral rights and copyright

32. Surveyed staff were not always sure whether they were clearly
observing assessment policies: some examples
Policy area % Not sure
Copies of students’ marked work are available if there is a need to 20
deal with appeals/complaints
This assignment encourages academic honesty and integrity 20
Students’ identity and privacy in online environments are 20
safeguarded
Students are provided with timely feedback on marked work for this 20
assignment
This assignment provides for equitable assessment for students with 23
a disability
Students’ moral right and copyright in work they produce are 27
protected
Students whose work shows evidence of cheating or misconduct are 28
formally disciplined

33. What can (and can’t) be done in practice in subject L&T settings?
Draft guidelines Cinema Studies / Criminal Law
Blogging
pilot-tested Cultural Studies / Media Studies
for practicability Social bookmarking Education
in 17 subjects Social networking Languages
at 5 universities Video sharing Business / Economics
in Victoria
Photo sharing Communication Design
during Sem 1, 2010
Virtual worlds Languages
Accounting / Education
Wiki writing Information Technology
Languages / Science
Combined Information Management
Web 2.0 tools Information Technology

34. Sharing project progress
Moodle: www.groups.edna.edu.au/course/view.php?id=2146
Blog: http://web2assessment.blogspot.com
Bookmarks: www.citeulike.org/tag/assessment20
Webinar: www.transformingassessment.com/events_26_may_2010.php
Workshops 2010-11 @ HERDSA, ATN Assessment, ASCILITE, ACE
Papers:
• Gray, K., Thompson, C., Clerehan, R., Sheard, J., & Hamilton, M. (2008). Web 2.0
authorship: Issues of referencing and citation for academic integrity. The Internet
and Higher Education, 11(2), 112-118.
• Gray, K., Thompson, C., Sheard, J., Clerehan, R., & Hamilton, M. (2010). Students as
web 2.0 authors: Implications for assessment design and conduct. Australasian
Journal of Educational Technology, 26(1), 105-122.

35. Acknowledgements
Project Advisory Group
• Matthew Allen, Bill Anderson, Greg Battye, Robyn Benson, Tracey Bretag, Jenny Buckworth,
Denise Chalmers, Geoffrey Crisp, Leitha Delves, Bobby Elliott, Jacqui Ewart, Glenn Finger, Tom
Franklin, Merrilyn Goos, Scott Grant, Ashley Holmes, Christopher Hughes, David Jones, Marj
Kibby, Adrian Kirkwood, Mark Lee, Catherine McLoughlin, Beverley Oliver, Kaz Ross, Alison
Ruth, Royce Sadler, Mary Simpson, Arthur Winzenried, Katina Zammit, Lynette Zeeng.
Project Reference Group
• Michael Abulencia, Robyn Benson, John Benwell, Marsha Berry, Marilys Guillemin, Laura
Harris, Deborah Jones, Gregor Kennedy, Shaun Khoo, George Kotsanas, Lauren O’Dwyer,
Jason Patten, Emma Read, Julianne Reid, Gordon Sanson, Cristina Varsavsky.
Project Pilot-testing Group
• Matthew Absolom, Anne Davies, Cathy Farrell, Scott Grant, Terry Hallahan, Michael
Henderson, John Hurst, Ramon Lobato, Warren McKeown, Michael Nott, Kerry Pantzopoulos,
Michele Ruyters, Michael Smith, Sandra Smith, Robyn Spence-Brown, Elizabeth Stewart, John
Terrell, Jenny Weight, Lynette Zeeng
ALTC Support for this project has been provided by the Australian Learning and Teaching
Council Ltd. (www.altc.edu.au), an initiative of the Australian Government Department of
Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. The views expressed in this presentation
do not necessarily reflect the views of the Australian Learning and Teaching Council, or the
views of individual contributors apart from the project team.

36. Your comments, questions, feedback, follow-up?
• This slide showed a web page “Learning
Web2.0 tools and applications” published by
Go2web20.net and retrieved 2 July 2010 from
http://www.go2web20.net/#learning